Marcus du Sautoy, Oxford's new professor for the public
understanding of science, is an avowed atheist, yet he sends his
two daughters to a faith school. What is more, the school in
question is Jewish - and Du Sautoy is not.The mathematician, who
last month took over the Oxford post from evolutionary biologist
(and Britain's most famous atheist) Richard Dawkins, is married to
Shani, an Israeli, and the decision to send their twins to Simon
Marks Jewish primary was primarily hers: the Hackney school reminds
Shani of home.Not that it has proved such a compromise, says Du
Sautoy. "Although I am an atheist and believe that education and
religious beliefs should be kept separate, the emphasis of the
school is on celebrating the cultural side of Judaism, rather than
anything strongly religious. Our girls learn Hebrew, which means
they can talk to their great-grandmother in Israel, and they do
a...